Plant and shoot morphology of Mulinum spinosum growing in burned and unburned areas of the Patagonian steppe in Argentine

DAMASCOS M.; GHERMANDI L.; BRAN D.

Simposio; 46 IAVS Symposium; 2003

Since high irradiance and summer temperatures increase water plant losses, vertical structure development would not be an useful strategy for arid communities plants. Consequently they would not exhibited size differences of its current-year-shoots. However, plant morphology could differ when plants live in more extreme environments as burned areas.Mulinum spinosum (Cav.) Persoon (Umbelliferae) is a cushion hole shrub with spiny deciduous leaves. It is a sprouter species very frequent in the Patagonin steppe. Plants grow during spring and early summer and produce temporary distal branches at the end of this season. These branches extend at the next spring. Annual plant biomass is limited in this species to one external plant thin layer. We expected one homogeneous size pattern of current-year-shoots and no differences between plants of burned and unburned areas.